Board 8 > Most absurd Final Fantasy thing? (spoilers I guess)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Steiner posted...

i really feel like not enough is made of how quickly the game throws "we're going to space" at you, it makes me laugh every time i play it and was what i was thinking of coming in here

FFIV does the same thing!

Xtlm posted...

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/forum/1/136cf63a.jpg

When normal people see this, do they know its a video game thing, or do they think the model is just super airbrushed?

Going to the moon out of nowhere is weird but traveling to another dimension or another planet out of nowhere, no problem

redrocket posted...

FFIV does the same thing!

Not exactly. The Giant of Babil comes from the moon before that happens. Plus the actual crux of the plot comes from the Lunarians.

Anagram posted...

When normal people see this, do they know its a video game thing, or do they think the model is just super airbrushed?

They just think it's a random Japanese thing, which is accurate

in ff4 don't you decide to go to the moon and then have to do something to get there? in ff8 it's like, so next we should get into the moon and 3 seconds later squall is walking onto the rocket

The level of technology available in ff8, even non esthar, should actually imply space travel is possible.

Esthar in general is sillier than space. They should be way beyond having just 1 space station!

In FF8 they didn't just "decide" to go to space, they learned that Ellone was up there and Squall thought they would be able to use her power to change something in the past

The absurdity of space in FF8 in no way has to do with it being impractical technologically. But if someone rings my doorbell right now and tells me it's time to go to space, I'll be a bit taken aback to say the least.

kevwaffles posted...

The absurdity of space in FF8 in no way has to do with it being impractical technologically. But if someone rings my doorbell right now and tells me it's time to go to space, I'll be a bit taken aback to say the least.

They weren't even going to tell them they were going to space until the party was like "wait where are we going" and the Esthar dudes were like "space duh where else"

Honestly I don't think Lightning being used to promote real world brands is that weird in a world where we already had shit like Marge Simpson in Playboy

Likewise neither is Ariana Grande being canon to Final Fantasy since she's also canon to Fortnite

If anything, Squeenix is ahead of the curve with this kind of promotional stuff

The extraneous FFX deep lore probably takes it, idk

WazzupGenius00 posted...

In FF8 they didn't just "decide" to go to space, they learned that Ellone was up there and Squall thought they would be able to use her power to change something in the past

right and the moment that thought is formulated squall starts walking onto the ship. it's the whiplash from how quickly the idea is introduced that makes me laugh

It's more the fact they learn, "Hey, Ellone's there." and then the game immediately says, "You better get to Lunar Gate now." Considering they just had gotten into this massive fuck off Futurama city, you'd think there would have been a little story breathing room. Maybe spend a few minutes looking for party members and say, "Hey, what do you think about going in space? Is it dangerous? What's the ramifications here?"

Outside of spending time going around to Tears Point and some other things in the region, you're pretty much plopped into the "WE"RE GOING TO THE MOON!" Nothing like, "Hey, Adel's there, and we're guarding some giant ass problem. In case shit happens, maybe you should go up there to protect the crew if monsters show up."

nope. Just, "Get in the capsule and go, you dip." They wait until later to explain why Adel's even up there, what the Ragnarok are, and other subsequent things in the Laguna meeting. I don't know, but waiting until after I've just hopped to the fucking moon and seen shit go sideways seems a little late to explain the severity of the problem here. FF4 doesn't do the greatest job or anything, but they reveal pretty early on, "Hey, you're going to the moon someday. The big bad or something other messed up shit is up there." You get a few hours of other things to do in the meantime. FF8 asks you to do it in 5 minutes.

It's not as ridiculous as the weirdness that was Garland's monologue and plot dump in FF9, but PSX era FF sure did love to just do weird shit and hope there was enough context clues that people weren't confused.

*Sees final boss of FF9 and the reaction to it*

Nah. Not everything works out just because the writer understands it.

Well, there was no threat of a Lunar Cry as far as they were concerned because Lunatic Pandora hadn't shown up yet. There was also no danger of Adel breaking free as far as they knew either. There was no real reason to warn the party about that (and I imagine the fact that she's up there isn't common knowledge).

But that is the sort of thing you could hint at while in the car while driving to see Odine. Some of the stuff they explained in Laguna's scene after all the shit happened could be set up early to justify or build up hype.

"We're in a bit of a situation here. The president is up in on the moon. We have a base to monitor something, and his relative is there." The party can infer something like, "Wait, relative?" They don't have to put two and two together, but Squall then at least in his head thing, "Wait...if Ellone's on the moon, then the President...no, I'm overthinking it. Esthar can't be this stupid." He then has several reasons he'd want to go there. They don't have to give away the Adel or Lunar Cry stuff. That can stay where it was on the moonbase. Besides, Squall's only interest is Rinoa and Ellone still. He gets what he wants. The party can either keep to Edea babysitting or question what and why the moon is a big deal, or just shrug it off.

They don't have to give everything away, but you can build the world of Esthar is bigger than the city, and you can let the player connect some dots early so some of the stuff doesn't just seem out of nowhere. All the party knows about Esthar from the moment Edea shows up is, "I want to see Odine. Take me to see him." All they mention is, "Meet at Lunar Base," I don't think they mention anything about even going on the moon at the point. If they do, it is very miniscule and the party just goes, "Well, fuck it, let's go."

Laguna and Ellone aren't related

I also don't know if that's how you want to give away where Laguna is in the present day

Really the suddenness of PS1 FFs late game plot points is probably less about actual artistic direction and more about time and/or money. FF8 just comes off a bit weirder for it.

Then don't even mention the relative part if it's not there. Say, "He's there to see someone special by the name of Ellone. She's there to be protected from issues outside our control, and we think the moonbase might be better than keeping her on the planet right now." The game could even go, "Hey, instead of our president, who is kinda...sorta...not the best at this sort of stuff, why don't your team go?"

Serves multiple purposes. Sets up reasons the mention the moon, who and why they are up there in the first place (ties together the fact she joins Esthar in an earlier scene, keeping Ellone away from Galbadia's earthbound forces, gives the party reason to even travel there, and then serves the Squall/Rinoa plot a bit more). They even put over the threat of Ultimecia more, considering she's able to do all this through magical/sorceress bullshit, outwitting Esthar's protection plan. You also refer to Laguna as a bit of a goof, but don't outright say it. By most accounts, a lot of the people in authority in FF8 aren't the smartest of people

A 3-5 minute bit of extra dialogue can go a long way. Again, FF8 is not unique to this, (tying Cloud's weirdness to all of Hojo's sciece and Sephiroth's mindfuckery, Garland/Necron, etc in FF9). Compared to all that, FFX's approach just felt way more digestible, fleshed out and understandable. Like they took time to close a lot of loopholes and provide justifications for any callbacks and such.

Then again, comparing FFX to anything is problematic. That game was a masterclass of not too much, not too little, but everything makes sense in the end, bonkers as it is.

Technically Ellone is there to see Laguna, not the other way around. He's up there to do a routine inspection of Adel's Tomb. Ultimecia's plan in space is to get Adel, not Ellone. That was just a happy coincidence for her.

My point is the more you have to search for an answer to what a game's narrative is trying to tell you, the more work the writers could have done to proofread and not assume just cause it makes sense to them, it may or may not translate when executed. I'm finding that out first hand in a small way being a DM in D&D. What I say and what makes sense to the people actually playing doesn't always translate to making sense. Writing a story is a puzzle...and it isn't just a FF8 thing. I just find the PSX era an easy example of frustrating stuff that could have been prevented.

Anyway, Leon and I will never agree on this, so I'll stop now. Probably better for the topic anyway.

I dunno, I guess I'm one of those people who enjoys deciphering stuff from the context clues instead of having the game outright tell me everything that's going on.

Like I vastly prefer this method of storytelling as opposed to FFXIII just putting all the extra info into a Datalog to read.

Steiner posted...

right and the moment that thought is formulated squall starts walking onto the ship. it's the whiplash from how quickly the idea is introduced that makes me laugh

It's not even a ship. They basically put you in a pod and shot you out of a giant cannon in the direction of the space station. Which just makes it even more absurd.

Leonhart4 posted...

Laguna and Ellone aren't related

I also don't know if that's how you want to give away where Laguna is in the present day

Ellone was Laguna's step-daughter. Maybe not genetically related, but I'd count that as a relative.

Raine and Ellone aren't related either

They weren't, but Raine had adopted her. That counts in my book.

the fact that there was more than one

Leonhart4 posted...

Like I vastly prefer this method of storytelling as opposed to FFXIII just putting all the extra info into a Datalog to read.

A lot of stories feel amazing when you put them next to FFXIII.

FFIX's trophy list deserves a dishonorable mention. 10,000 enemy kills (probably 10x more than you'd ever need to kill to beat the game and get to level 99) and 1,000 consecutive skipping jumps (a trophy I suspect has driven thousands to using Remote Play and a script) are just very, very silly things to ask players to do.

From what I've heard XIV has some ridiculous grinds for its trophies, but I've never played it so can't comment.

kevwaffles posted...

A lot of stories feel amazing when you put them next to FFXIII.

I like FFXIII!

The Datalog is just a lazy storytelling mechanic though.

I have never once opened the Datalog

I for one am shocked a user named "leonhart" loves FF8.

Kotetsu534 posted...

From what I've heard XIV has some ridiculous grinds for its trophies, but I've never played it so can't comment.

The PS3/4 list isnt too bad (for the most part). PS5? Even just the base list is crazy, and then some of the stuff theyve added through EW and its patches

Now that I think about it, I should've included lightning dodging.

Anagram posted...

Now that I think about it, I should've included lightning dodging.

Overhated mini-game

Getting less than 0 seconds in the chocobo minigame and butterfly catching are both worse minigames within FFX itself, to say nothing of other games in the series

nah.

Not that it would contend with the heavy hitters like Blitzbomb, digital actresses, or Lightning's stint as a fashion icon but if we're going with bizarre game reward/mechanic stuff... was it FFIX that had one of the strongest weapons gated behind an extremely tight play time requirement such that the recommended strategy was to like open the PS1 tray at certain points because it would halt the ingame timer (or like leave it on super long to overflow the timer) or am I mixing that up with a different game?

still a wild move to pull in an allegedly story-driven game lol

Thorn posted...

was it FFIX that had one of the strongest weapons gated behind an extremely tight play time requirement such that the recommended strategy was to like open the PS1 tray at certain points because it would halt the ingame timer (or like leave it on super long to overflow the timer) or am I mixing that up with a different game?

Yeah, you had to reach the end of the game in under 12 hours. And yeah, the alternate strategy was to leave the timer running until it resets, which takes a long time, of course.

Don't think it's quite as dumb as the FFXII one in the poll but it's up there. FFIX has a lot of bad side content.

Can't wait for them to faithfully preserve it all in the remake.

Hey. Chocobo Hot and Cold HD means the song gets a remix too. Totally worth.

Leonhart4 posted...

Overhated mini-game

Getting less than 0 seconds in the chocobo minigame and butterfly catching are both worse minigames within FFX itself, to say nothing of other games in the series

Hey man, I beat the chocobo racing minigame when I was fifteen or whatever, but I never beat lightning dodging.

The only ultimate weapon I ever got was the one that requires like zero effort, I think it's Yuna's?

I feel like Chocobo Hot & Cold is super overrated by the fanbase because it's one of the few minigames in FFIX that's not hot garbage so it feels great by comparison

Leonhart4 posted...

I feel like Chocobo Hot & Cold is super overrated by the fanbase because it's one of the few minigames in FFIX that's not hot garbage so it feels great by comparison

Same reason Vivi is overrated tbh

Leonhart4 posted...

I feel like Chocobo Hot & Cold is super overrated by the fanbase because it's one of the few minigames in FFIX that's not hot garbage so it feels great by comparison

To be fair it was also a big step up from the dumb chocobo minigame in VIII.

same orphanage

redrocket posted...

To be fair it was also a big step up from the dumb chocobo minigame in VIII.

It was a step up, although VIII's is at least relatively easy and not very time consuming.

In terms of stuff that actually happens within the games themselves (so nothing meta or related to lore, promotions, production, or other media), the FFVII slap fight is one of the single dumbest, weirdest, most tonally dissonant things I've ever seen in an RPG.

Can't wait to see them recreate it in part 3

Lightning Dodge isn't that bad with no encounters imo. I don't think it stands that much out in the grand scheme of FF minigames.

Blitzball bomb would be the right FFX rep.

HoneyBee Inn not even on the list?

wg64Z posted...

HoneyBee Inn not even on the list?

You could nominate the entirety of Wall Market for this

You literally have a sidequest designed to make Cloud sexy enough to confuse a pimp into believing he's a woman so he'll get picked for a night of sexy time so they can interrogate him

#3 is just sad and delusional